Movable dam.



` No. 735,387. PATENTED AUG. 4, 1903.

S..G VIRWIN & A. M. BOWMAN.

MOVABLE DAM.

` APPLIoATIoN FILED SEPT. 29, 159e.

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PATENTED AUG. 4, 1903. S. C. IRWIN 6v A. M. BOWMAN.

MOVABLE DAM APPLIoATIoN FILED snrjr. ze, 189e.

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U'Nrrierin STATES'A atented August 4, 1905;.

PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL C. IRWIN -AND ARTHUR M. BOWMAN, OF BELLEVUE,

` PENNSYLVANIA.

MOV-ABLE DAM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 735,387, dated August4, 1903.

` l Application filed September 29 J 1896. Serial No.607,3`60. (Nomodel.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Beit known that We, SAMUEL C. IRWIN and ARTHUR M. BowMAN, of Bellevue,in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented anew and usefullmprovement in Movable Dams, of which the fol-A lowing isa full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification,

in whiche- Y Figure l is a vertical cross-section of one of thedivisions of our improved dam. Fig.l2

is a longitudinal vertical view of a section of' parts ing slack waterin navigable streams, to be used in the place of lock-gates,sluice-gates, or bear-trap dams in sluices, chutes, or waterways of anydescription, and is capable of being raised more or less and lowered atpleasure.

There are various practical difficulties in the use of movable dams orvertically-movable lockgates chiefly arising from the means necessarilyemployed for raising and lowering them, from the tendency to saggingwhen the gates are of any considerable length across stream, and fromthe difficulty of operating and controlling them when made in severalsections or divisions. All of these obstacles to the practicallysuccessful operation of movable dams, besides other minor difficultiesnot mentioned, are obviated by the use of our invention, in which thesections are operated from theshore and are raised and loweredautomatically.

Our improved dam consists, substantially, of a chamber or where thewidth of the stream renders it desirable of several chambers `placed endto end across a stream or waterthe admission and exhaustion of air andwater.

`They are made in the shape in cross-section substantially that of thesector of `a circle, the `radii of which form the top and bottom and theperiphery the upper face of the damthe `sides or ends being closed byvertical triangular plates. Each such chamber or dam section is pivotedat each end at the central or `meeting-point of the radii to shoesattached to a wall or crib in the lowerpool extending across the stream,near to which point and just below the heelof the darn are located `theair and water conduits. The axial point of the dam-sections is thuslocated at the upper edge of thawall just mentioned, which may be ofstone, cribwork, or a concrete foundation, forming the lower wall of thepit, `which extends under the dam and into which the dam descends whenlowered. The dam sections or chambers when lowered are filled wholly orpartially with water and are raised by 'rst exhausting the water whollyor in part from the interior of the dam-sections and then admittingwater from the upper pool into the'pit under the dam, as hereinaftermore fully described, it being an important feature of our inventionthat the operations of raising and lowering the dam-sections areperformed automatically and from the shore, not requiring, as is thecase with movable dams as ordinarily constructed, the raising of eachsection by power applied externally to the sections and to each sectionseparately, Vwhich is always difficult and generally attended with moreor less danger to the loperators, and, further, that the dam-sectionscan be all raised simultaneously, the same power being applied at thesame time to each.

Having thus given a general statement of the construction and operationof our movable dam, we will proceed to describe it in detail. In thedrawings, Fig. l, a single sector or dam-section is shown composed o f aradial top plate q and a radial bottom plate o and an arc-plate p, allof which may be made of sheets or plates of iron or steel of any desiredthickness. These plates are supported internally by a framework ot'structural iron or .steel joined together in the well-known mode ofconstructing framework of metal, which need not be here moreparticularly described,

especially as our dam-sections may, if pre ferred, be constructed oftimber and plank, although a structure of iron or steel is muchpreferable. The dam-section is closed by triangular vertical side platesu, one at each end, and also by a platejl near the heel of the dam,which incloses the chambers or sections at that point, leaving an openspace j near the heel of the dam for the joints or hinges of thedam-sections and for the swiveljointed portions of the air and Waterpipes, as is clearly shown in perspective in Fig. 3. Between each pairof dam-sections is a shoe 7c, which is securely fastened to and held inplace on the cribwork or lower foundationwall m of the dam byanchor-bolts m', as shown in Figs. l and 2. A center pin 7c passesthrough the two arms of the shoe k and side plates u of the chamber atthe open space near the heel of the dam, the platej preventing the waterwhich may iind its way around the center pin from entering thedam-chamber. Both of the side plates are reinforced around the centerpins 7c by bearing-plates k2 of suitable thickness to give properbearing for the pins, as the side plates u would be too thin unless thusstrengthened. These pins serve as journals for the damsections to turnupon, the box or bearing for the pins being supported by thebearingplates, as just stated. The dam-sections are placed near to eachother, so that their sides are as close together as the properindependent working of the sections will permit; but, if

` bolts may be removed when itis desired to renew the packing. If thepacking-strips between two adjacent sections are fastened to both thesections, they will thus be removably connected together at their sidesand will therefore necessarily rise and fall uniformly not only, but incase of any defect--as, for example, a stoppage of the circulation inthe branch air or water pipe in any section-such section will becompelled to rise and fall with the adjoining sections. The dam-sectionsmay be connected together, as above described, by means of removablebolts without the use of interposed packing.

Outside of the dam-sections and just below their turning-point arelocated the waterconduit'g and the air-pipe h, which extend entirelyacross the stream, one end of the Water-pipe being closed, while theother end is attached to a pump located on shore for exhausting thedam-sections of water. If it is desired to enable the dam to be operatedj from either side of the stream, each end of 'thepipe may be connectedwith a pump. T he air-pipeisopen at both ends, which are elevatedsufficiently to prevent the -entrance of water through it into thedam-sections. It is of course necessary to connect the air and waterpipes with the interior ot' each damsection. This we effect by means ofbranch pipes g from the water-conduit and h from the air-pipe. Thesebranch pipes g and h tap the main air and water pipes in the usual wayand extend thence into the open spacej before mentioned and thence enterthe damsections, separable branch air and water pipes being connectedwith each dam-section. The air-pipe b should extend to the upper orhighest corner of the chamber, and the waterpipe a should extend to thelower corner, as shown in Fig. 1. These pipes have each a swivel-jointon the axial line on which the dam-sections move, as shown at y and e'in Fig. 3, so that the rising and falling of the dam-sections does notinterfere with the free passage of air and water.

At the toe of the dam on each section is secured a bracket c, whichprojects from the circumference of the dam-sections, and when they areraised the bracket cornes in contact with a projecting ledge m2 on theupper crib or wall of the dam-foundation and prevents any further riseof the dam-sections, as shown in Fig. l.

As before stated, the dam-sections are located above a suitably-shapedpit a: in the bed of the stream and extending the whole length of thedam, formed by the cribwork or concrete foundation of the dam, and beingsuitably inclosed at both ends is preferably so constructed as just toreceive the darn when lowered, leaving a space on the lower part for theadmission of Water under the lower side of the dam-sections, as shown inFig. l, a projection or projections frz/from the wall preventing thelower side of the dam from lying so close to the wall as to prevent theaccess of water. This pit Qc is connected with the upper and lower poolsof the streamwith the upper pool by a conduit s, which is furnished witha valve d for admitting or shutting off the water of the upper pool intoand from the pit and with the lower pool by the conduit z5, alsofurnished with a valve The connection of these conduits t and s with thepit a: is at its lowest point e, where there is a depression for thecollection of silt and other matter. Similar conduits if and s should beplaced at both ends of the dam, so as to be operated from the shore, andby opening the upper valve dv at one end and the `lower valvef at theother end the entire pit may be cleared of silt. When flushing out thepit the dam-sections should be empty IOO IIO

We have described our'movable dam-seci being constructed of severalsections, but in derstood: Supposing the dam-sections to be 4located onshore,

`causes a pressure to be exerted on the under tions as being hinged to-the crib or foundation-wall at the lower level of thepool. This is,however, not necessary, as the dam could be operated in like manner ifthey were pivoted `to the crib or foundation-wall at the upstream edgeof the pit, the position of the pit a; being reversed as well as that ofthe dam itself.

From the foregoing description of the construction of our movable damthe following statement of its operation will be readily unloweredintothe pit x and the chambers of the dam-sections to be full or nearly fullof Water. In order to raise the dam, the water is drawn from the chamberof each dam-section through the water-main by means of a pump airpassing through the airconduit to supply the place of the removed water.After a portion of the water has been removed the dam will begin toriseby flotation, and now the lower-level valve j' being closed and theupper-level valve d opened more or less fully,raccording to the head ofwater in the upper level and the rapidity with which it is desired toraise the dam, the head of water in the stream above the dam side of thedarn section or sections, which will assist their tendency to rise, sothat the pump may be stopped and the dam section or sections will beraised until their full height is attained. If, however, only a partialelevation of the dam is desired, its upward movement may be arrested atany point that may be preferred by closing the upper valve and stoppingthe iniiow of water into the pit In order to lower the dam-sections, allthat is necessary is first to refill the chamber with Water by openingthe valve, admitting water through the pipe which connects the watermaing and the dam with the water in the upper pool, and to close the valve dand open the discharge-valve f, when the dam will sink more or lessrapidly, according as the discharge of water from the pit @c isregulated, until itreachesits normal depressed positionin the pit fr.

There are many ad van tages of our improved movable dam, some of whichhave been before referred to; but the chief merit, we think, is in thefactthat the raising and lowering of the dam to a greater or less heightand with greater or less rapidity, as may be desired, is entirely underthe control of the operator in charge, and that these operations can beconducted'with no danger to theoperators, and that the damsections areall raised simultaneously and do not require that each piece or sectionshould be operated upon separately and in detail.

We have described our movable dam as case of a short dam it may asreadily be made in a singlesection, the construction and operation beingsuch as beforedescribed.

Having thus described our improvement,

what we claim as our invention, and desire.

tof sections arranged end to end, and means for simultaneouslydisplacing a fiuid in said sections to raise or lower them together.

2. A movable dam consisting of one or more hollow sectional compartmentshinged to a foundation, air and water pipes located adjacent to thehingingpoint, branch pipes leading from the air and water pipes into thesection or sections, and means for forcing water through the branchpipes into the sections and drawing it therefrom; substantially asdescribed.

3. The combination of a movable dam consisting of one or more hollowchambers, furnished with suitable pipes for the admission and exhaustionof air and water into and from the interior of the section or sections,with a dam-foundation of cribwork or suitable material extending acrossthe waterway to be closed by the dam, said dam-foundation having aninclosed pit to receive the dam when hinged to said crib or foundation,and suitable conduits or slniceways for the admission of water under thehinged dam, and for the escape of water therefrom, and a pump orsuitable device for exhausting the dam section or sections of water;substantially as described.

4. A dam composed of several sections pivloted independently of eachother, in combination with means for detachably connecting saidsections; substantially as described..

5. A dam consisting of one or more hinged hollow water-tightcompartments, a crib or foundation having a pit to receive the same, avalved passage leading from the upper pool into the lower portion of thepit, and a valved passage leading from said portion to the lower pool;substantially as described.

6. A dam consisting of a plurality of hollow water-tightcompartments,independently pivoted to a crib or foundation, a water-mainextending adjacent to their pivotal points and having branches leadingthrough their axes into the compartments, and means for drawing thewater from the compartments; substantially as described.

7. A dam consisting of a plurality of hollow water-tight compartments,hinged independently of each other to a foundation, a Water-main and anair-main extending adjacent to their pivotal points, branches leadingfrom said air and water mains into each of the compartments, and meansfor drawing the water from the compartments through the main;substantially as described.

8. A dam consisting of a plurality of hol low water-tight sections,pivoted independently o f each other to a foundation, water and airpipes leading into the sections, means for exhausting the water from thesections IOO IIO

through the water-pipes, said foundation hav inga pit forthe sections,and means for admitting water into the lower end of the pit andexhausting it therefrom; substantially In testimony whereof we haveherento set as described. our hands.

9. A movable dam consistinr of one or more hollow compartments hingedtto a foundation, CMIQVNM XN 5 air and Water pipes leading into thesection l Y I or sections, and means for forcing water into Witnesses:

the sections and drawing it therefrom to de- G. I. HOLDSHIP, press orraise the sections. H. M. CORWIN.

